Deus Ex: Invisible War in NY Times Article

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Appropriately enough, ION Storm's recent cross-genre sequel is addressed in a hybrid of a review and a column.

By IGN Staff

If you're willing to register, which is free, this piece today on the NY Times website first looks at Invisible War, then compares it to another game with a dark theme, Max Payne 2. The former portion is highly complimentary while recognizing that there are flaws:

Invisible War is a wildly ambitious game, a serious attempt to shape the video game into something far grander and more complex than it has been until now. It is largely successful. The story, which is filled with compelling details and takes several ingenious twists, has many clever ideas. Enemies sometimes throw down their weapons, raise their hands and surrender. Guards do something I have always wanted guards in a game to do: they say hello to one another in passing. And the option to replay the game with different missions and using different skills and approaches made it one of the few games I wished I had the time to play a second time.

Invisible War is so good that one feels an extra measure of frustration at the flaws that keep it from being perfect. The stealth elements are somewhat underdeveloped. The game's area maps are sometimes useless. A game of ideas, Invisible War lacks real feeling, and the characters with whom you interact rarely have even rudimentary personalities.

Among the aspects cited favorably are the title's dark vision, its environment, and that it's fun. Another major facet listed as keeping the game from being better is the AI. - Jonric